I've worked as a Software Engineer for about 15 years - Ask Me Anything.

Morning all,

So I thought this might be a bit of fun and of interest to people who don't really know much about programming etc.. That is why I put it in the Lounge and not the programming section.

Anyway, I spent the last 15 years give or take, working in startups and some large organisations as a Software Engineer.

- My experience is mainly in the Financial Technology space, around card payments, banking solutions. More the modern approach to this stuff as opposed to the legacy.

- Most of my time has been spent developing web service (back end) style software which is what users of tech don't ever get to see or touch. It's the stuff that powers the apps you use etc.

- In my earlier career I did some Android and iOS development and also hacked around with Windows Desktop software and smart card integration stuff etc.. some kind of low level, non run of the mill stuff.



** I don't claim to know it all, but I know enough to be able to answer most non programmers queries etc and let them satisfy their burning curiosity.

Could you please tell me what is the easiest way to create an application?

Realistically, if I were to throw myself at learning to code — 3-4 hours a day — how long would it take before I was in any way employable in the industry? Brutal honest truth

How much do you dream of becoming a farmer?

Seriously though, any recommendations/useful lessons you have learnt while working with finance tech that stand out to you?

Bestaccsbuy said:

Could you please tell me what is the easiest way to create an application?

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Like all good technology discussions the answer starts with it depends

I will define an application as something that a user can load up on their screen, interact with and then get some result / output.

Easiest way right now is use something like Lovable / Bolt to create a web application, asking it to do what you want. Then you can link it to your github, clone the repo and edit it locally to play around and see how things work and make small changes.

Can you teach me how to go viral on tiktok using edit videos in other platforms ?

medchamrak said:

Can you teach me how to go viral on tiktok using edit videos in other platforms ?

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No, sorry that is not the job of a programmer, but an Internet Marketer.

Now I want to remove an outlook account that is not mine from an account, what should I do, do you have experience in this.

netproxy said:

Now I want to remove an outlook account that is not mine from an account, what should I do, do you have experience in this.

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I don't know what this means, so I can't help I'm afraid. The intention of this post was not to offer people assistance in tasks, but to answer questions they have about the Software Development industry.

IsmTheTism said:

Realistically, if I were to throw myself at learning to code — 3-4 hours a day — how long would it take before I was in any way employable in the industry? Brutal honest truth

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Realistically, if you spend 3-4 a day learning and writing code, you will be well able to build useful, software within a month - six weeks.

To become employable, that is terribly difficult to answer in this economic climate. Juniors have it tough at the moment.. and it's experience that companies look for.

In general, you will need to have earned a degree/diploma whatever in software to be I think.. In this climate, it would be quite difficult for a self taught programmer to get a job, unfortunately (my opinion).

I would say if you want to self learn and land an development job, you would absolutely need to build some kind of product to a mature state, and have people pay you to use it.. even a few bucks from time to time, but I think that is the only way people will take you seriously. I mean sure, if you self learn only and can prove you are worthy to another developer you might get in... but that wouldn't be enough to get you passed recruiter screens in the first place, unfortunately.

ratemate said:

How much do you dream of becoming a farmer?

Seriously though, any recommendations/useful lessons you have learnt while working with finance tech that stand out to you?

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I don't dream of becoming a professional farmer, but I would like to have a small amount of land, couple acres, say and have a few animals and out buildings to do general farm work and have a tool shop to do projects in. That is something I do dream of..

If I managed that I would be happy to never turn on computer again.. only problem is that computer is fantastic tool for learning on so, it must stay

For the second part.. no real recommendations that I can think of .. but software development is an industry where you need to keep learning and moving to stay relevant.... I have seen some guys sit back and ride a tech wave all the way to extinction and it didn't work well for them when trying to move on to something better.

paddy_proxies said:

Realistically, if you spend 3-4 a day learning and writing code, you will be well able to build useful, software within a month - six weeks.

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So if I were to do this in the context of an existing job, it might be easier to get my "foot in the door"?

paddy_proxies said:

To become employable, that is terribly difficult to answer in this economic climate. Juniors have it tough at the moment.. and it's experience that companies look for.

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Yeah no, I think that's true universally but probably even more acutely in your sector.

paddy_proxies said:

In general, you will need to have earned a degree/diploma whatever in software to be I think.. In this climate, it would be quite difficult for a self taught programmer to get a job, unfortunately (my opinion).

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Ah well. I can dream.

Thanks for the insight!